When I updated my Galaxy to Android 1.6 I lost my HTC keyboard. Luckily I’ve found the simplest solution so far, and yes it does support other languages than English. Right now my phone has HTC softkeyboard with Swedish letters but one of the best things is that it allows me to change that to English in a whim just like if it was the stock one!

So how is this done?

For starters, it’s all made possible by jonasl at xda-developers.com who extracted this from a HTC Desire ROM. I had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of this method I’m just sharing what I’ve learned. The files needed (and instructions, full feature list and more details) can be found in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5475701. I’m just gonna make it a bit clearer and not use the ADB method which in my opinion require a bit more technical knowledge.

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Update 20100531, just like Albin stated in the comments this has gotten a lot easier now. Get the files at the link above, add to your sd-card and install with any app manager. Just make sure you enabled "Unknown sources" in Settings->Application. Done! Updated version works with the pre-FroYo release as well.

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First, get the files. There are one version for low resolution phones (Samsung Galaxy, HTC G1 etcetera) and one for high resolution (Nexus One, Motorola Droid/Milestone etcetera). Note that the later version of low-res only works on Android 1.6 and up, if you have an older version of Android use an older version (available further down)

Unpack the zipfile at any location.

Connect your phone and mount your SD Card (Notification bar->Mount) and copy HTC_IME.apk and .htcime to the root of your SD card (if you want to be able to recalibrate your touch input you also need to copy Clicker.apk)

From your computer double-click .htcime and choose to open it with Notepad (can be found in C:\Windows) or other text editor.

Put a # in front of every language you DON’T intend to use, the rest will be available in the same order as in the list. DON’T change the number in front of each line (Language ID)! Then it should look something like this (with more languages further down):

Example of the .htcime file

Dismount your SD card (reverse mount procedure) and unplug your phone

If you don’t have a file manager on your phone, get one from the market (Astro file manager, Linda etcetera) anyone should do

On your phone, go to: Settings -> Applications. Tick the box next to “Unknown sources” (otherwise you can only install applications from the market, remove it when you’re done if nervous)

Open the file manager you’ve chosen. Find the files you copied and select HTC_IME.apk and chose to install

In the FAQ category: Unlock Android phone that is locked after too many pattern attempts. I've seen the question so many times in the Google Mobile Help Forum that I felt that a post could help someone out.

The pattern lock screen (in Swedish)

On Android phones you can activate a feature called pattern lock. This feature can be compared to a Windows computer asking for password after the screen saver kicked in, only instead of a password you use a pattern. You get a screen with 9 dots and you draw a pattern of your choice with 4 of them. If you forget your pattern (or have kids that likes to play with phones) you will after 3 faulty attempts be unable to use the pattern to unlock it. Instead you are asked for your Google account and password (that is setup with the phone of course). This is where the problem starts.

For many, many users providing the username and password won’t change a thing. For some people changing the password via a computer has worked but that is uncommon. Most people ends up with a very expensive paperweight. Have no fear, there are solutions to almost everything!

Update

Google has a decent article on how to regain access to your account here:

4. Call yourself from another phone, answer, without hanging up press the home button, then menu button, settings, try to disable pattern-lock

5. Call yourself from another phone, answer, hang-up, directly after hanging up start pressing your buttons like a madman for <30-60 seconds ending with your home button (might take a while to get the timing right). Go into settings and disable pattern-lock.

6. Try the normal recover password routine from GMail.com and start over from 1.

7. Perform a factory reset. YOU WILL LOOSE all not-synced DATA (SD card will be left untouched).

1-6 are possible workarounds, these doesn't work for everyone but can be worth a try to avoid factory reset. 6. is what should work but hardly never does. 7 - The factory reset always work

End Update

In this case the solution is to make a factory reset (sometimes referred to as hard reset or wipe). This will erase all data on your phone (not on your SD-card). Your contacts and mails should be in sync with the Google servers, no problem there then. Downloaded applications needs to be installed again but there is a list of your previous downloads in the Android Market->My Downloads. Other things though are lost if you haven’t backed them up manually with a 3-rd party application. Example on things you will lose: Call logs, text messages, application settings.

This is your 3 step solution

Factory reset your phone (links to Android device manuals can be found below, it differs between devices)

Setup your phone just like you did the first time you unpacked it (use the same Google Account if you want your old contacts back!)

How do I factory reset? HTC leads the way and put this information in their manuals, other manufacturers should learn from this!

Dear readers, as much as I would love to keep a directory on how to factory reset every single Android device out there, it's just not possible. Use your rights as a customer, go back to the store and ask them to help you factory reset your device!

Motorola Droid (a.k.a. Milestone): 1. Turn the Droid off. If it won’t turn off, take the battery out then place it back in.
2. Open the keyboard and press the X key while pressing and holding Power. The device will power on. Keep holding the buttons downuntil a yellow triangle appers.

3. Press the Camera and Volume Up buttons at the same time to get to the menu.
4. Use the direction pad to the right of the keyboard to select the Format option.

Nexus One:
1. Turn the phone off. If it’s frozen in the on state, pull the battery.
2. Press and hold both the Home and Back buttons simultaneously.
3. While continuing to hold the buttons, press the Power button.
4. Release Home and Back.
5. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the hard reset.

T-Mobile Pulse
If you want to do a Hard Reset but can't do it through the menu, please use the update from T-Mobile UK website: T-Mobile - Help & Support

But use the file from the "Android updates" section and the following piece:November 2009: T-Mobile Pulse software

This software update should be used ONLY when your T-Mobile Pulse has been security locked and you do not have a valid password.

If you right-click on your mouse here and select the "Save target as.." option - it should take about 2 minutes to download depending on your internet connection speed.PLEASE NOTE: Installing this update will remove all existing data on your T-Mobile Pulse.

Then in your pc format the SD card. then copy the folder dload to your new formatted SD card. So the folder with the two files will be on there.

Insert your SD card in the phone

Then when your phone is off, do the following:
Vol + key & "hang up button" - keep them both together pushed and then turn on the phone. Then the update will start automatically. Once the update is finished it might hang to long in the "phone will restart automatically". If so, take out the battery again and turn the phone on normally. then it all will go as normal.

Once the update is done, you will have to configure your phone again, which also means you can choose the language again.

This post is most of all an answer to a question in the Google Mobile Help Forum. There are limitations when it comes to embedded pictures in that platform so I’ll take it here instead. Who knows, it might find other readers searching the web as well.

To change your keyboard type on a HTC Magic, same on Hero, and as far as I know all devices running the HTC soft keyboard for Android (like my Samsung Galaxy). Note that this is to change between the different stock keyboards, not installing a custom one which is a whole other question.

Start to type a new message, just to get the keyboard up. Then push the little “Settings-button” marked in red on this picture.

This brings you to the keyboard settings (mine is in Swedish but I’ll translate the important parts for you). Select the row marked in red that should be called something like “Keyboard types” in English.

Which brings you to this screen where you just select the input you favor, QWERTY, Compact QWERTY or Phone.